Going to the Fair thumbnail 1
Not currently on display at the V&A

Going to the Fair

Oil Painting
1837 (painted)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

These two companion paintings show the same family, before and after attending what would have been one of the great events of the village year - the travelling fair. The idea of such pendants was taken first from French painting by William Hogarth in the 1730s; they became very popular in the nineteenth century. Webster individualizes each character and contrasts each member of the group 'before and after' the excursion; for example, the youngest child is first out of the door riding its 'hobby-horse', but, tired out, is last home, while the eldest daughter has brought home a young man.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleGoing to the Fair (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Oil on canvas
Brief description
Oil painting entitled 'Going to the Fair' by Thomas Webster. Great Britain, 1837.
Physical description
These two companion paintings show the same family, before and after attending what would have been one of the great events of the village year - the travelling fair. The idea of such pendants was taken first from French painting by William Hogarth in the 1730s; they became very popular in the nineteenth century. Webster individualizes each character and contrasts each member of the group 'before and after' the excursion; for example, the youngest child is first out of the door riding its 'hobby-horse', but, tired out, is last home, while the eldest daughter has brought home a young man.
Dimensions
  • Estimate height: 55.9cm
  • Estimate width: 76.1cm
  • Framed height: 88cm
  • Framed width: 109cm
Dimensions taken from Catalogue of British Oil Paintings 1820-1860, Ronald Parkinson, Victoria and Albert Museum, London: HMSO, 1990
Style
Marks and inscriptions
'T Webster/1837' (Signed and dated by the artist on stool, lower right)
Credit line
Given by John Sheepshanks, 1857
Object history
Given by John Sheepshanks, 1857
Subjects depicted
Associated object
FA.221[O] (Pair)
Bibliographic reference
Catalogue of British Oil Paintings 1820-1860, Ronald Parkinson, Victoria and Albert Museum, London: HMSO, 1990, p. 298
Collection
Accession number
FA.220[O]

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Record createdDecember 15, 1999
Record URL
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